1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to firearms, such as pistols, and, specifically, to pistols having grip safetys.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Firearms, and in particular, pistols, have been manufactured in many different configurations. One particular type of pistol is an automatic, 45 caliper pistol sold by Colt Industries, Inc. as model No. 1911. This pistol includes a frame having a grip and a forwardly extending, upper portion carrying a slide, barrel, trigger and springloaded hammer.
In addition to the standard finger-operated safety lever mounted on the side of the frame, this pistol, as well as many other automatic pistols, also has a grip safety pivotally mounted on the grip and interconnected with the firing mechanism to permit firing of the pistol only when the grip safety is depressed by the hand of the user grasping the pistol grip. The grip safety insures safe operation of the pistol by requiring the user to securely grasp and apply pressure to the grip to depress the grip safety before the pistol can be fired by pulling the trigger.
However, in certain situations requiring speed the user is hindered by the grip safety since he must insure that be properly holds the pistol and depresses the grip safety before pulling the trigger to fire the pistol. Particularly, in police and military activities as well as in firing competitions, the safety provisions afforded by a grip safety are outweighed by the requirements of fast firing and the ability to fire a pistol even if it is not properly grasped by the user.
Previous attempts to selectively override the grip safety have employed bands or tape placed about the grip to hold the grip safety in a continual depressed position. While somewhat effective, such bands and tape are subject to breakage which may occur at any time without notice by the user.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a means for selectively overriding the grip safety found in certain pistols. It would be desirable to provide such a means which is removably implaceable over the grip safety to hold the grip safety in a continual depressed position such that the pistol can be fired only by pulling the trigger. It would also be desirable to provide such a grip safety override means which can be used with any existing pistols having a grip safety without requiring modifications to the pistol.